Hendrik van der Walt
Hendrik Andries van der Walt (April 22, 1919 - September 18, 2014) was a South African soldier and political activist who served in World War II. Early life and family Hendrik van der Walt was born in the small town of Winburg in Orange Free State Province in South Africa in 1919. He was an Afrikaner, of mostly Dutch descent but of some French Huguenot as well, with roots going back to the original Dutch settlers of the Cape in the seventeenth century. His father, Jochem (1881-1968) had fought in the Anglo-Boer War with the Winburg Commando and worked for ten years as a gold miner on the Rand. In 1936, at just seventeen years old, van der Walt enlisted in the South African Railways Police Force. For three years, he worked on railway security all across the Orange Free State. He joined the Union Defense Forces in 1939, and was made a Lieutenant, thanks to a connection with a now-high-ranking former police officer. Military service World War II On September 6, 1939, after a series of political scuffles with dissenting politicians, the Union of South Africa declared war against Germany. However, the South African military was in no shape to fight against the Axis powers, and a quick reorganization of the UDF commenced. Lieutenant van der Walt was assigned to an infantry platoon in the newly-raised 1st Field Force Battalion, 2nd Sout African Infantry Brigade. However, it was decided at the last minute that van der Walt was to be temporarily attached to the 1st South African Infantry Brigade, which was deploying to Kenya in July 1940. With the Italian Empire having declared war on Britain in June and subsequently invaded British Somaliland, the Commonwealth forces prepared a counterstrike. Van der Walt and the men of the 1st Brigade fought their first action of the war in December 1940 in an attack on an enemy border post at El Wak, in which they routed the Italians. After this fight, Lieutenant van der Walt rejoined his battalion in the 2nd Brigade, which was now a part of the newly-constituted 1st South African Infantry Division. The 1st Division's mission was to invade southern Ethiopia by crossing the Didi Galgalla desert. Lieutenant van der Walt led many advance patrols, but contacts with the Italians were few and far between. In January 1941, the South Africans began a general attack on El Yibo and El Sardu in the north of Kenya. Van der Walt and his men pushed back the Italians in three days of fighting, securing El Yibo. Crossing into Ethiopia, the 2nd Brigade took Gorai and the neighboring crater, forcing the Italians to retreat even further. In February, they supported the attack on Fort Hobok. After advancing on Mega, Lieutenant van der Walt's men ran right into an Italian counterattack, which pushed them back, but they were able to rally and defeat the Italians. Assaulting into the Mega fortress several days later, they secured the position and forced the Italians to surrender. After the fall of Mega, the South Africans entered Moyale unopposed. After the successes in East Africa, the South Africans were withdrawn from the front back to Kenya, where on April 1941 they departed for Egypt for service in the Western Desert. Arriving in Suez, the South Africans began constructing defensive positions at Matruh, not considered ready yet for offensive operations against the Axis. Administrative, organizational, and manpower issues prevented te 1st Division from deploying to the front lines. Finally, in November 1941, the South Africans moved to the front to take part in Operation Crusader. Lieutenant van der Walt and his men, again temporarily attached to the 1st Brigade, advanced to Bir el Gubi to protect the British forces from an Italian attack. After this, they marched north to assist with the relief of the garrison at Sidi Rezeg, but were blocked from linking up with the other South African forces. Pulling back to Bir Taieb el Esem, the brigade attempted to link up with the New Zealand forces to support their attack on Tobruk, but this too was blocked. Later in the month, the Axis forces began a massive counterattack to disorganize the Allies. Van der Walt and his men were heavily engaged north of Sidi Rezeg, repulsing multiple fierce attacks from the Germans. By December, the German offensive had been stopped and the 1st Division moved to Merseh Matruh to establish defensive positions. in January 1942, van der Walt's unit, now back with the 2nd Brigade, was moved to a position west of Tobruk to defeat an oncoming Axis offensive. In May 1942, at the Battle of Gazala, the South Africans were not engaged. Though there was fighting to the south, the Germans and Italians opposing the 1st Division did not attack. Eventually, the position became untenable and the 1st Division began to retreat across the Libyan coastal road, chased by the Axis forces. Lieutenant van der Walt led several rearguard actions, forcing back the Germans and protecting the division's retreat. Tobruk fell in mid June, and the 1st Division retreated into Egypt to make a stand at El Alamein. The Germans attacked in the First Battle of El Alamein in July, and the South Africans repulsed them all along the front. In August, van der Walt led several raids and small-scale counterattacks which disrupted the German offensive plans. By September, the Axis forces had disengaged entirely. By October 1942, the division prepared to take part in the attack which would push the Axis out of Egypt entirely, the Second Battle of El Alamein. Van der Walt's men attacked as a part of Operation Lightfoot, breaking through the enemy lines and reaching their objectives at Miteiriya Ridge. The South Africans moved north as the rest of the Commonwealth armies continued the attack, and held defensive positions into November. This would be the last action fought by the 1st Division in the war, and units were withdrawn from the front line for return to South Africa. In December, Lieutenant van der Walt returned home with his unit. The 1st South African Infantry Division was disbanded in January 1943, but it was not to be the last South African contribution to the war effort. In February, the 6th South African Armoured Division was established as a highly mobile, mechanized force. Van der Walt was promoted to Captain and transferred to the Regiment de la Rey, part of the new 12th Motorised Brigade. The division sailed to Egypt for training in April. In Egypt once again, Captain van der Walt and his men began training in the desert at Khataba. In September, the regimen was amalgamated with the Witwatersrand Rifles Regiment to create the WR/DLR Regiment. After some large-scale combat exercises in December, the division prepared to move out. In March 1944, the 6th Division departed the Middle East to join the fight in Italy. While the 6th Division was still regrouping after having arrived in Italy, Captain van der Walt and the men of the 12th Brigade moved immediately to the front in the Isernia area. In June 1944, they attacked and took Allerona, part of the initial Allied drive north after the fall of Rome. Avancing up the Via Casalina, the South Africans captured Orveito soon after. Continuing onwards, resistance stiffened, and Captain van der Walt's men made slower progress against determined German defenses. By the end of the month however, the Allies broke through the Albert Line and the 6th Division advanced rapidly through Rapolano and Palazzuolo. In July, they faced heavy resistance from dug-in German forces in the Chianti Mountains. Van der Walt led his men in the attack, driving the Germans out of Radda and soon after securing Monte St. Michele, Monte Querciabella, and Monte Fili. With the Chiante Range in Allied hands, the South Africans prepared to drive on Florence. The 12th Brigade crossed the Greve River, outflanking the Germans and spearheading the Allied assault on Florence. The South Africans pushed through the city's outskirts, and Captain van der Walt and his men arrived in the city proper by August, the Germans having abandoned it. After Florence, the 6th Division was placed in reserve and allowed to rest in the vicinity of Siena and Castelnuovo before being transferred to a different part of the front by the end of the month. Late in August, the South Africans began the advance north of Florence. They crossed the Arno River at La Piagge under heavy fire and advanced against the withdrawing Germans, eventually drawing up positions at the Albano Massif. The 6th Division resumed the attack in early September, advancing on Bologna and Vertago as a part of Operation Olive. Pushing into the Appenines, Captain van der Walt led the assault on Monte Stanco, driving the Germans from their positions in October. The 12th Brigade went on to take Monte Vigese, and had another short rest period afterwards. Back in the fight by the end of the month, the South Africans crossed Setta Creek and took Hill 501 before the division pulled back into defensive positions in November. Here, they would wait out the winter months. In February 1945, the 6th Division was relieved from the front line. Returning to the front the next month, the South Africans prepared for the final Allied offensive which would end the Italian campaign once and for all. In April 1945, Operation Grapeshot commenced, with Captain van der Walt leading his men up the slopes of Monte Caprara and pushing the Germans back from the crest. Later, they attacked the San Matteo della Decima, clearing the town in house-to-house fighting. Advancing through the Po River Valley, the 6th Division cut off the retreat of a large German force and was in Treviso by the end of the month. Early in May, the South Africans were in Milan when they heard the news that hostilites in Italy had ceased on May 2, 1945. The war in Europe ended shortly after, and the 6th South African Armoured Division was disbanded. With the end of the war, the South Africans moved north, with van der Walt's unit occupying the Aosta Valley and the borders with Switzerland and France. After being relieved by Italian troops, the South Africans moved to occupy the city of Imperia until mid August, when they left for the Middle East. Postwar and forced resignation In the Middle East, primarily in Egypt, many South African troops wished to return home. However, the sheer number of recently demobilized soldiers overwhelmed the authorities and transport home was slow in coming, with Army organization as well as living conditions rapidly deteriorating. Discipline broke down, and the dissatisfaction of the troops culminated in the Helwan Riots, where South African soldiers attacked and looted residences in the port of Helwan. Captain van der Walt, an officer very popular with the enlisted men (especially Afrikaners), attempted to address the soldiers' grievances and talk them down from violent action. In the cases where this did not work, he had to use force to restore order and discipline. This mitigated the riots, but the damage had been done. An exhausted van der Walt was only able to return home to South Africa in January 1946. Captain van der Walt remained in the Union Defense Force after the war. In 1948, the National Party won the general election in South Africa, toppling Jan Smuts's United Party. Van der Walt, a UP supporter who had committed the cardinal sin of supporting South Africa's war effort, was immediately targeted by the far-right NP who had begun to infiltrate and politicize the UDF. In the "Afrikanerisation" of the UDF, someone like van der Walt was seen as a traitor and a threat to the NP's domination of the military. At his home in Winburg, van der Walt was approached and given an ultimatum: resign, or face dishonorable dismissal from the military on falsified charges of incompetence. Van der Walt resentfully resigned from the UDF on December 18, 1948. Later life Hendrik van der Walt became very active in politics after leaving the UDF. He joined the Springbok Legion and in 1951, the Torch Commando, both anti-Fascist and anti-Apartheid organizartions for ex-servicemen. Van der Walt took part in marches and protests against Apartheid as well as Coloured voter suppression. However, after five years of protesting, the Torch Commando began to die out, and the anti-Apartheid movement was pushed further to the left as Communist and Black Nationalist factions grew in prominence. Van der Walt did not sympathize with these positions, and he returned to the United Party, before dropping politics altogether out of disillusionment with the movements he had been a part of. In 1954, Hendrik van der Walt married Abigail Nieuwoudt, a fellow activist, and the two lived together in Pretoria for the rest of their lives. Van der Walt was a close friend of Rhodesian World War II veteran Richard Smith, with the two having met during the fierce battles against Nazi forces in Italy when they fought together in the same brigade. They continued writing after the war and occasionally visited each other, but soon their relationship soured as a result of their politics. While van der Walt was extremely anti-Apartheid and opposed to the National Party government, Smith was devoutly supportive of white minority rule in southern Africa. They ceased their communication in 1956 as a result. On September 18, 2014, Hendrik van der Walt passed away of old age, having lived to be 95 years old. He was buried in the churchyard of the Winburg Dutch Reformed Church. Views In his early years, van der Walt was a staunch supporter of the United Party and a great admirer of Jan Smuts and his vision for the future of South Africa. His strong hatred of DF Malan and the National Party, which he described in his words as "Africa's own Nazi Party", led him to support the Fagan Commission and detest Apartheid, as well as strongly oppose the republic in the 1960 referendum. In 1994, he welcomed the results of the general election and gave praise to both Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk for peacefully ushering in a new era for South Africa. However, in 2010, van der Walt stated that he was "extremely dissatisfied" with the governance of the ruling ANC party. Van der Walt was a pious Christian was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. Equiment During service in World War II, van der Walt carried the Lee-Enfield Mk III bolt-action rifle, the Enfield No.2 Mk I* revolver, and the Mills Bomb M36 fragmentation grenade.Category:Soldiers in World War II Category:South African soldiers Category:British Commonwealth soldiers